Eating too much soy turns men gay, reports WorldNetDaily, a conservative news site run by Joseph Farah, a member of the vast right wing media conspiracy masquerading as a defender of the First Amendment.
This article has less scientific evidence than it says a "soy-damaged" man has testosterone, so there's no need to argue with its thesis. But let's look at it as an example of what's wrong with the right-wing media's case against queers.
-- It says "homosexuality" when it means male homosexuality. I've written about that elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself.
-- It never actually talks about homosexuality at all. What it does say is:
In fetal development, the default is being female. All humans (even in old age) tend toward femininity. The main thing that keeps men from diverging into the female pattern is testosterone, and testosterone is suppressed by an excess of estrogen.
Setting aside the obvious problem that gender performance and sexuality aren't the same thing, the article presents a worldview in which masculinity is under constant assault by femininity and must therefore be defended. Is this really a problem we should be devoting time to?
-- The big scary word "homosexual" also diverts attention from the real problem with soy, which is caused by the big businesses whose metaphorical dicks Christian conservatives love to metaphorically suck. (Our industrial agriculture system forces farmers to grow too much corn and soybeans, which big companies buy cheap and put into every processed food they can sell.)
-- The article attempts to generate more essential behavior differences between men and women. Women eat soy; men cease to be men if they do. That's almost as dumb as having men's coats button one way and women's another.
-- Most right-wing writing about gay issues uses facts as loosely as this one: Soy simulates estrogen; estrogen is produced by women (though it's also produced by men, just as testosterone is produced by women); therefore soy causes men to be like women, a.k.a. gay.
-- And, finally, the piece never says what's wrong with being gay. I mean, for a reactionary publication, couldn't they do better than the meak claim that "homosexuality is always deviant," especially if it's so easy to catch? Pussies.
1 comment:
it's also wrong because excess exogenous testosterone as well as excess exogenous estrogen will diminish endogenous stores.
so basically, taking anabolic steroids also makes your balls shrink, just like taking estrogen would.
it's also wrong to refer to testosterone and estrogen as male and female hormones since both are found in males and females. the misconception that exists has to do with elevated serum levels of testosterone but for what it's worth, the two hormones differ by the workings of a single enzyme, aromatase.
never mind gender construct, female vs male, man vs woman ><
and this is especially crap science: "All humans (even in old age) tend toward femininity. The main thing that keeps men from diverging into the female pattern is testosterone, and testosterone is suppressed by an excess of estrogen."
none of that is true.
the only 'truth' to what they've written is "In fetal development, the default is being female".
;) thanks for tearing apart their bullshit from a gender perspective - but even from a scientific one theyve got it all wrong. get an activist scientist on your side to provide extra oopmh to discredit their stupid notions about science, evolutionary bio, and being queer.
also, swans.
(seriously, many birds live in same-sex relationships)
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